Mutual Comfort
by Lena7623
Summary: After Buffy flees for parts unknown, Cordelia goes through a break up with Xander over the summer and goes to Giles for some talking comfort, and ends up giving some comfort of her own to him.


May 4: ?/Giles; post-Passion

Cordelia knocked on Giles's door for the fourth time, once again not getting an answer. Of course, Buffy had ran away, his girlfriend had been recently killed by her ex-boyfriend turned homicidal maniac, and lots of other stuff happened. Of course, another thing that happened was that Xander broke up with her. Yeah, Xander, the king of dorks, had broken up with her, Cordelia freaking Chase, queen extraordinaire. She had wanted someone to talk to, and her former Cordettes weren't taking her calls. Of course, she had told them off just so that she could date Xander, so that wasn't exactly shocking to her. So, this pretty much left Giles, since she would never stoop to talk to Willow at a time like this.

With a huff, she finally pulled out the key that she had swiped from Xander and opened the door. She still wasn't sure what anyone but maybe Buffy had been doing with a key to Giles's apartment, but now she was glad that he had one. "Giles? Are you home?" she called out. She shut and locked the door behind her after walking inside. She set her purse down on the sofa as she walked inside. This place was a little neater than when she last saw it the night Jenny Calendar died, but it was still much messier than Giles usually kept anything.

She heard a grunt come from the little kitchen area, and walked in to see Giles sitting on the kitchen floor with a bottle of scotch in one hand. "God, could this be more pathetic?" Cordelia muttered to herself as she picked Giles up off the floor. "Come on, Giles. I had wanted someone to talk to, but it's not like you'll be of any use until you sober up."

"I should have done something more," Giles mumbled, letting the bottle fall to the floor. It fell over and spilt on the floor. "Maybe she wouldn't have run away if I had taken better care of her."

"Are you talking about Buffy?" Cordelia asked. "She had a lot of her own problems, like killing her crazy ex and all that." No one knew for certain what happened, but Angel had disappeared, and they were all still alive and not sucked into hell, so he had to be dead. If she had avoided killing him, then she probably would have eventually of came back. "Right now we need to focus on me, and I guess you, too, since I had come over here to talk about my problems."

Giles gave her a funny look, but didn't say anything in protest as she half carried/half dragged him over to his sofa. It was thankfully clear of crap at the moment, so nothing hindered Giles's collapse onto it. She looked at him and shook her head. "Buffy should be here to see this," she mumbled to herself as she went back into the kitchen and poured the scotch down the sink. It looked expensive, but it was the last thing that Giles seemed to need around here right now. "She should be here to see what she's doing to people by taking off like this."

Cordelia actually got that Buffy was going through a hard time. Even her mother had thrown her out of her own home. Of course, she knew that Giles, Willow, or even Xander would have offered her a place to stay until her mother got over the whole 'I'm a slayer' business. Honestly, even Cordelia herself might have done it. It wasn't like they didn't have dozens of rooms in her home. She would probably even barely have to see her. It wouldn't have been that bad. Plus, it would kind of by like having a sister, which Cordelia herself would have always of loved to have. Being an only child in a giant home sucked hard sometimes.

But no, she took off instead, and left her beloved Watcher to wallow in his own alcoholic pity. Cordelia sighed as she looked him over. "I need to get some coffee in you," she said, starting a coffee pot to start going. It couldn't be that hard, could it?

A few minutes later, she found out just how hard it could really be. She handed him the cup of coffee, and, whatever alcohol was still in his body seemed to fly away at the first sip. "Cordelia, what did you make this with?" he asked as he coughed and sputtered.

"Coffee grounds?" she offered with a slight smile. Even if it wasn't that good, and it obviously wasn't, it seemed to pull some of the alcoholic stupor out of him. "Sorry, it's my first time. The cook usually makes it at home."

She wasn't sure why he smiled at her comment, but he did. "Thank you for trying," he said, setting the coffee aside. "So, not that I don't appreciate it, but why did you come over here?"

She sighed again. She had almost forgotten why she had in the 'save Giles from the kitchen floor' crusade she had been on. "Xander broke up with me."

"He did?" Confusion spread across Giles's face. "Why on earth would he do that?"

"I think he's carrying some weird torch for Willow. Doesn't make sense to me, since she's all into Oz and everything. Of course, she so obviously had a thing for him for years, so, once he expresses his thing to her, she'll get her thing back right away and they'll be all over each other." Cordelia frowned. "Kind of makes me want to gag."

Giles shook his head. "I'm not sober enough to understand all of that yet," he said. "I can't believe that Xander dumped you, though. Silly boy."

Cordelia arched an eyebrow at him. "He is a silly boy. Actually, that's not descriptive enough. He's a jackass. Do you really think so, though?" It had actually stung like hell when he had done so. He had said something like 'they just were from different worlds' or something like that. It was something idiotic and probably copy written somewhere.

"Yes, I do think that he's a silly boy, or a jackass, as you said," Giles said to her. "Considering that Willow is now with Oz, I don't think he stands a chance if he really does carry a torch for her."

"I doubt that will last, anyway," Cordelia said to him, sitting down with a huff. "I think that she'll drop Oz as soon as she knows Xander's feelings for her." She knew that he had feelings for her. She knew that when she began to date him, and actually date him, not the meetings in the closet that they had been having before. Still, she looked the other way. "Of course, if Willow won't take him for some reason, then he'll just go after…"

She was going to say Buffy, but Buffy was gone. Still, Giles seemed to know just what she was going to say, because she watched as his face fell. Stupid Buffy! "I'm sorry, Giles," she said softly. "I didn't mean to bring her up."

"She hasn't even called anyone since she ran away," he said softly. "Not her mother, not me, not Willow or anyone. I'm not even sure if she's still alive." He hung his head low, and Cordelia could see a few unshed tears brimming his eyes.

"No, don't talk like that," Cordelia said, turning to face him. "Buffy's like, a superhero. She can take care of herself just fine. Sure, she could drop us a postcard, letting us know that she's doing OK, but she doesn't. She doesn't need to. We all *know* that she's OK, right?"

He rubbed his eyes and looked up at her. "I can only believe that you are correct," he said, but the look in his eyes said that he wasn't truly convinced.

Cordelia wrapped her arms around his neck. "You just need to keep believing," she said, hugging his neck tightly. She felt him stiffen slightly for a moment before hugging her back. This made her realize that she so rarely saw him touch anyone or be touched. When was the last time this man got a hug, anyway? "It's really all we can do until she walks through the door and says…"

"What are you doing?"

The both of them jerked away from one another to see a slightly dirty and rough looking Buffy standing at the door, a large duffle bag slung over her shoulder. She was starring at them quizzically. "Of all the things I thought that I'd come home to see, Cordelia hugging anyone, much less Giles, is the last thing I expected."

Before Giles could react, Cordelia jumped off of the couch and wrapped Buffy in a hug. Later, she would claim that emotions had overridden her common sense, obviously. "Buffy! Thank God you're OK. Where have you been?"

Buffy awkwardly patted her on the back until Cordelia let go. "LA for a little while. I needed time to myself. Besides, your mom throwing you out will make you want to take off, well, that and killing someone you loved."

Giles stood up and, as soon as Cordelia had pulled away, he wrapped Buffy in a hug as well. She seemed to be more expecting this, because she actually hugged him back. "It's good to have you back here, Buffy. You can stay here as long as you need."

"Thanks," she said, letting the bag drop to the floor. "I realized that I shouldn't be alone right now, anyway. Probably the last thing I need." Buffy looked over at Cordelia again. "Seriously, though, why were you hugging Giles?"

"It's called mutual comforting, Buffy," Cordelia said, putting her hands on her hips. "It's what two or more people do when they are both hurting emotionally, whether for the same or different reasons."

Buffy looked at Giles. "Giles, I think Cordelia is a pod person. You might want to step away."

"Is it really that strange for me to comfort someone?" Cordelia asked.

"Xander broke up with her, Buffy. She's going through a tough time right now as well," Giles said to her. "I promise you that she's not a pod person."

"OK," Buffy said, relaxing a little. "I'm sorry to hear about you and Xander. What happened?"

"He's an idiot. Why would you break up with the hotness that is me?" Cordelia asked, doing a little twirl. "Something about us not being compatible or something. I thought we were past that, but no. I think he's still carrying a torch for Willow. He asked about her way too much too often."

Buffy shrugged. "Maybe, who knows? Do you guys mind if I get some rest?" They both nodded, and Buffy picked up her bag and started up the stairs to what Cordelia assumed was Giles's guest room. "Oh," she stopped and turned around. "It's not that weird for you to comfort someone. Just…different." She finished her trip up the stairs, shutting the door behind her.

"I told you that she was fine," Cordelia said to Giles, sticking her tongue out at him just like a five year-old would. "Remember, superhero equals Buffy, or is it the other way around?"


End file.
